Month: September 2015

It has been announced by the FIA today that next season’s Formula 1 season will begin two weeks earlier than what had been originally scheduled, due to team complaints.

The season was supposed to begin on April 3rd, what would have been the latest start in decades, but now the changes to the dates have been confirmed the season will start two weeks prior on March 20th.

The main opposition from the race teams was due to the later start it would be more difficult to fit in a record 21 races in such a short period of time.

The opener in Australia is scheduled to be followed by Grand Prix’s in Bahrain, China and Russia all with two week intervals in between, with the Grand Prix heading to Britain on July 10th.

The season still finishes on November 27th in Abu Dhabi as had been agreed to before today’s announcement.

The current campaign is still underway, with Lewis Hamilton currently leading the standings on 277 points, whilst his closest rivals Nico Rosberg and Sebastien Vettel both sit on 229 and 218 points respectively.

In what will probably be the greatest, and funniest story you’ll read today – Swindon have sent on loan Liverpool goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux back to Merseyside, after the joker paid a £50 club fine in pennies.

Vigouroux was fined for turning up to training late, and told to £50 so to set an example – and in hope the player would not make the same mistake again.

Sadly for Swindon, the 21-year-old clearly felt hard done by. Either that, or what may have been a joke was taken completely the wrong way by the Robins – but I doubt that was the case.

Signed by Liverpool from Tottenham last year, manager Brendan Rodgers sent the youngster out on loan to gain some first team experience, and had been performing well for Swindon before the incident.

Robins manager Mark Cooper, who is already working with a small squad, wouldn’t give too much away to the press following the revelation – but did say the matter had been dealt with, and he was unsure whether the player would be available on Tuesday.

“It’s a disciplinary internal matter. I’m not sure if he is (available on Tuesday).

“It’s come from me and the rest of the players. It won’t (cause an issue now) it’s been dealt with.”

With the departure of Vigouroux Swindon now face the problem of only having one senior keeper on the books, in the form of Ty Belford. Belford will now be favourite to start tomorrow night’s match when the club face Doncaster Rovers – but you would assume Cooper will be scrambling around to bring in another senior keeper on loan.

Kevin De Bruyne’s creativity was evident with a matter of seconds on the clock, as Yaya Toure played him in on the wing, with the Belgian winning a corner – but they couldn’t make anything of the set piece.

City had started the game well, and were almost gifted a goal by Spurs as Hugo Lloris attempted to clear but instead played it into the path of Raheem Sterling, but thankfully for the shot stopper Sterling used his arm to control the ball and a free kick was awarded to the home team.

Things went quiet for ten minutes or so with both teams struggling to create any serious opportunities. Toure found the ball laid into his path in a position he usually thrives from, but he mishit it and let Spurs off the hook.

That Toure shot seemed to wake City up a bit, as Sergio Aguero’s dipping shot from the edge of the box forced Lloris into a smart save. City couldn’t capitalise on the corner, and the chance was gone.

The games first goal came on 25 minutes courtesy of the highly impressive De Bruyne. Spurs had the corner, but once City cleared they broke quickly with Toure, who played the perfect pass through to the Belgian – he still had his work cut out from the angle he was at – but from the right of Lloris’ goal he gave the Frenchmen no chance and it was 1-0 to the league leaders.

After the City opener Spurs got on top of the game, but when a big chance fell to Eric Lamela, he fluffed his shot and let the away team off the hook.

Just as it seemed City would get to the half time break with the lead, Spurs equalised. After a dangerous ball into the box was cleared it fell straight into the path of Eric Dier who smashed it hard and low from 30-yards-out, levelling things at 1-1.

And that is how it would remain until the half time whistle was blown, with Spurs equalising at the most perfect time. Sadly the editor of this article had to rush out and missed the second half, but without any spoilers – Spurs won 4-1.

Belgium have today confirmed that the already eagerly awaited final for the Davis cup against Great Britain will be at the Flanders Expo, a 13,000 capacity stadium, with the surface also being confirmed as clay.

Britain made history this week as they reached their first Davis cup final in over 37 years, beating Australia to get to this stage, with the Brits being impressively led by captain and world number 3 Andy Murray.

There may problems with the proposed dates for the final, as officials told of the final being played from 27-29 November. Murray would have been participating in the World Tour Finals until November 22nd, leaving him with just five days for his body to recover before he headed to Belgium.

Murray told the press today he would need a substantial amount of time to let his body recover and to deal with the transition from hard court to clay.

“If you reach the final and play on the Sunday you also need to take time off – you can’t just play five matches against the best players in the world and then not take any days off.”

Despite the potential fixture meaning he may need to miss one of the big tournaments, the Scot is clearly happy to hear that the surface is on clay, as he tweeted:

“So Ghent on the clay for the Davis Cup final – very pumped! Think clay is a good surface for us.”

Belgium were handed the advantage of playing in front of their own nation due to the rotation policy the Davis cup instills, meaning that nations alternate hosting every time they face each other, and with Britain having last hosted the two nations in Glasgow in 2012, it meant it was Belgium’s turn. Belgium won that year convincingly with a tally of four wins to GB’s one.

Romain Grosjean will leave his current team Lotus to join the new US-based team Haas for the next Formula 1 season it has been announced.

The move will go ahead despite the expected switch up at the end of this season as Renault complete their takeover of Lotus, as sources state Grosjean has already made his decision.

The switch would leave a void spot in the Lotus (or Renault if you prefer) team, and a spot which has already had names thrown at it. McLaren reserve Kevin Magnussen has been touted, but should Jensen Button retire this season Magnussen may stay with his current team. The other rumoured name is ex-Toro Rosso driver Jean-Eric Vergne.

It was Saturday that the talking began with regards to Grosjean’s contract, as Renault Sport boss Cyril Abitebou said he had no worries about replacing him.

“It’s a shame we couldn’t talk about it, but we maybe were not ready in time. It’s all about timing.

“Romain is a great driver, he deserves a great team. There’s no national bias, we wouldn’t stay in Formula 1 for a particular country or region.

“Renault is an international brand, especially in countries like China and in south-east Asia. But we’re on a project which necessarily needs a little French touch. There are young Frenchmen pushing, so I’m not worried.”

Haas have decided to buy as many parts from Ferrari for their car as they possibly can under regulations, with plans only to sort the chassis and aerodynamic systems by themselves.

The next Formula 1 meeting is this weekend as the drivers head to Japan, with Lewis Hamilton once more drafted in as the bookies heavy favourite.

Don’t Touch raced to victory in the William Hill Ayr Gold Cup today to extend his unbeaten run to five, in what was an exciting race, with jockey Tony Hamilton only narrowly emerging victorious.

The favourite before the race was in fact Don’t Touch and was backed in at 6/1 by the bookies. Don’t Touch won by half a length with 50/1 outsider Poyle Vinnie finishing second. 33/1 Ninjago finished third, whilst 10/1 Toofi finished fourth in the 25-horse race.

On the road to victory today Don’t Touch became the the first three-year-old horse to win this race in 13 years.

Hamilton spoke after the win, and said he’s always had a special affliction with Don’t Touch.

“He’s a horse I’ve always loved and this is a race I’ve always wanted to win.

“He’s done it a bit too well really as I was in front too soon but we’ve got away with it.”

Trainer Richard Fahey had quite an extraordinary Saturday afternoon as he bagged not only the Gold cup win with Don’t Touch, but also the Silver cup with Tatilsu. With wins at Newbury and Caterick too, Fahey broke through the £3 million mark with prize money.

Fahey spoke of the difficulty of winning the Gold cup race, and the need for a special horse to do so.

“It’s been a while since we’ve won it, but it’s a race that’s very hard to win.

“You need a proper horse to win this. You’ve got to be progressive and nearly be a Group horse.

England won their opening match of the Rugby World Cup 2015 after a convincing 35-11 victory over Fiji at Twickenham, with Mike Brown the hero of the night following his two tries.

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After the wonderful opening ceremony, including a speech from Prince Harry – the real stuff begun, as Fiji started the match, and more importantly, the Rugby World Cup 2015.

England didn’t allow the visitors to settle into the game before they got their first points of the tournament, courtesy of a penalty conversion by conversion by George Ford, who couldn’t have struck the ball much more perfectly – giving the tournament hosts a 3-0 lead.

Fiji were then handed the chance to level the scores with a penalty of their own just a few minutes later, but Ben Volavola was incredibly unlucky as he hit the post.

With 11 minutes gone England increased their score with a penalty try, on the back of powerful rolling maul. The hosts had been awarded a penalty a few moments prior after a dangerous tip-tackle on Jonny May. Ford then went on to slot the conversion away, giving England a 10-0 lead.

Fiji were guilty of some poor tackles and England were getting plenty of promising penalties, and with 22 gone the second try of the game came. The English players worked the ball out with quick precision to the left and it was Mike Brown who powered home upping the score to 15-0, with Ford not taking the conversion opportunity this time – so 15-0 it remained.

Mild controversy was to follow five minutes later, when Fiji were awarded a try before then having it chalked off. Nikola Matawalu raced down the right and was simply unstoppable, or was he? Jonny May and Mike Brown were the two chasing down Matawalu and just as he looked to have scored the try the Fijian knocked on, on the line.

But Fiji would in fact score a try just moments after, as England conceded the scrum before Nemani Nadolo caught a wonderful cross field kick in the goal area, reducing the deficit to 15-5 – but they too would miss the conversion, as Volavola failed in his attempts.

Half time was edging closer after a thoroughly entertaining opening 40, but there was time for both England and Fiji to score three more points each, both from penalties – taking the scores to 18-8 with four minutes left to play.

Despite late pressure from Fiji, and a failed penalty attempt from England, both sides went into the half time break at 18-8 in what was an excellent display from both nations.

Fiji missed a good opportunity to reduce the deficit further seven minutes into the second period, but Nadolo missed on this occasion.

After a middle of the park battle for 15 minutes, Nadolo had another chance from a penalty – but once again he squandered the chance to bring Fiji within a try score of catching England.

That wake up call wasn’t loud enough for England, who gave Fiji another penalty opportunity. Volavola didn’t make the mistake his colleague had only moments earlier, and brought Fiji back in the game at 18-11.

The visitors were back within seven points of levelling the scores for a matter of minutes before England converted a penalty through Owen Farrell, extending the lead once more to ten at 21-11.

With only 8 minutes remaining England looked to have put the game out of Fiji’s sight as Mike Brown was the hero once more, scoring the try – and Farrell scored from the conversion, making it 28-11.

England went in search of the bonus point they would be awarded for winning with four tries scored, and it looked like they may have left it too late with the 80 minutes up, that is until Billy Vunipola powered through the Fijian back-line to score the all important try. With the bonus point already in the bag, Farrell converted to leave the score at 35-11 at full time in what was a commanding display by the hosts.

Andy Murray has announced that he will donate £50 to Unicef for every ace he completes for the remainder of the season, in a bid to aid the ongoing refugee crisis, which is something the Scot has clearly taken to heart.

The occasional tennis watcher may watch Murray’s occasional tantrums on court and judge him for doing so, but for the tennis enthusiasts, this generous news will not come as so much of a surprise.

Murray said he felt he needed to act and help in anyway he could after following the news updates of the thousands of refugees, who are making their way across Europe to seek asylum, escaping the conflict in their home nations.

“I felt I had to do something to help the millions of children and their families who have been forced to flee their homes.

“I’ll get that little bit more satisfaction from each ace I hit.”

Following Murray’s generous proposal, one of his sponsors, the Association of Tennis Professionals and the Lawn Tennis Association have also agreed to match his £50 pledge – meaning each ace will be worth £200 to Unicef.

The British number one takes on Thanasi Kokkinakis on Friday at 1pm in the Davis Cup, as his British teammates look to reach the final for the first time in 40 years as they take on Australia.

Manchester United full back Luke Shaw has tonight suffered what looks to be a double leg fracture after a challenge from PSV’s Hector Moreno during their Champions League opener.

Shaw received treatment on the pitch for ten minutes whilst paramedics tried to reduce the pain, and get the youngster into a comfortable state to remove the player from the pitch with the least risk of further injury.

The 20-year-old had been in fine form in the early stages of the season for United, in what will not only be a bitter blow to the player – but also to his manager Louis van Gaal. Shaw had not only been impressing for his club this season, as he was given starts in England’s two European Championship qualifiers last week against San Marino and Switzerland, with him particularly impressing in the latter match.

It did not take Shaw long to update his fans on Twitter, as he said: “Thank you everyone for your messages, words can’t describe how gutted I am, my road to recovery starts now, I will come back stronger.”

A shocking night was capped off by an equally shocking result, as Memphis Depay’s opener for United was canceled out by an equaliser from Moreno – before Luciano Narsingh’s second half winner.

We at Sporting Way of Life would like to wish Luke Shaw all the best with his recovery from tonight’s shocking injury, and hope to see him donning the red of Manchester and white of England soon.

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